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11/29/25 - Woods bounce-offs and parallels

After her strong interest to go into vs away from woods last class day, I asked Mary Ann to lay a track that parallels woods and does bounce-offs from woods. Mary Ann nailed the assignment (and shout out to Kelley who co-laid and was MVP for double lineups!). We ran the track at 1hr 15min old. Notes - what went well: Great start and 1st turn on the rails! Her article indications were really nice today.  I think our slowed down routine at articles is slowing her down and keeping energy / excitement from running wild. She feels more measured at restarts now. Turns - She was really clear to read on all with the exception of the last turn. In reviewing video, she gave a head turn at the final turn before going forward a little and then looking at woods.  Line work was good today - getting back up the line quickly + a behind the back line work on the final turn - felt like I supported her well when she committed.  She drank well before start and at articles Notes - To work on:...
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Jan 20 - Short and Sweet

Given the difficulty on our last outing, today's goal was even smaller - just have 2 short, 2-turn tracks with open turns and <30 min age. 

Location: Robious Athletic Complex

Cover: Short dead grass, some squishy mud

Time: tracks laid at ~8:30am, run at 20 min aged

Track layer: self 

Weather: 46* and mostly sunny, light breeze

Pattern: S10W15F7, S10 up to turn, S15 after to scent pad

Track Map:

Notes:

  • Today was much better! She was excited to go and work, stayed focused, and nailed turns for the most part. 
  • Tracks were ~130 and 120 yards, similar design but run in opposite directions (Track 1 went left to right on map, Track 2 went right to left).
  • Great starts, nose down consistently, clearly "working"
  • All of her turns had great confidence. The only issue was the last turn she wanted to cut the corner about 10 yds early because the breeze was bringing the scent pad right to her and she was angled right to where it would be but I held firm and she came back to the track and did the corner nicely.
  • Article indication not great on Track 1 (she looked at it but also sniffed around for ~15 sec before she decided to down on it). Track 2 indication was better.
Questions/Thoughts:
  • I know the scent pads are working and are now S15 out from corner so she is tracking to them rather than having them right on the corner. Should I move it to S20 / further down or start to wean the scent pads by having fewer drops or just do regular patterns after the turn? Once or twice I've forgotten to lay the SP and she seems to not notice and keeps on going. I don't want to drop scent pads too soon and lose her turn confidence but also don't want her to depend on them.
  • With having good nose down behavior, should I move her to S5W15F7 next or keep S10 and increase the Walk section to W20F@10?

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